Saturday, December 08, 2007

Omaha mall shooting

Robert Hawkins, a 19-year-old boy who on December 5, 2007 killed 8 people on an Omaha Nebraska mall and committed suicide. According to AP,Robert Hawkins entered a mall, an AK47 in hand, killed 8 people and shot himself afterwards after spending four years in a series of treatment centers, group homes and foster care after threatening to kill his stepmother in 2002. He had recently broken up with a girlfriend and lost his job at a McDonald's. He left a suicide note at his suburban house with the following message:

"I know everyone will remember me as some sort of monster, but please understand that I just don't want to be a burden on the ones that I care for my entire life," he wrote. "I just want to take a few pieces (sic) of (expletive) with me."

Surveillance video and still images of the attack show Hawkins initially walking into the mall unarmed, wearing glasses, a black zippered sweat shirt over a black T-shirt with a white logo. He returned to the store six minutes later, according to timestamps on the footage.

Video of the department store's south entrance shows Hawkins entering the festooned store and immediately walking to the elevator to his right. His right hand was tight against his midsection to hide what police said was an AK-47 assault rifle.

Meanwhile, funerals for some of Hawkins' victims were announced. A wake for John McDonald, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was scheduled for Sunday, with a funeral the following day in his hometown. A vigil for Janet Jorgensen, a 14-year Von Maur employee, was scheduled for Sunday evening in Omaha, with a funeral Mass on Monday.

Jorgensen's family members gathered to pray for the victims and their families — including Hawkins' family.

"They're not vindictive people," family friend Paul Huntimer said Friday to a gathering of reporters at the Jorgensens' Omaha home. "It was important to Ron that prayers go out to the suspect's family."